Yesterday
saw thousands of families attend the Southern Baby Event and Family Day,
sponsored by Matalan, at Fontwell
Racecouse, West Sussex.I was there and this is what I thought…

The venue
was reasonably easy to get to, but was not signposted very well from the
direction we were going, so it took us a little while longer to find than we’d
expected.When we arrived, there were
plenty of parking spaces and we didn’t need to queue at the entrance as we had
already registered online.It was a
lovely sunny day and lots of families were making the most of the last bit of pleasant
weather before the Winter decides to kick in!

There were
a number of competitions running throughout the day.The first was the longest rider of the Surf
Simulator.The Princess didn’t quite win
that one, lasting only a few minutes, but she had fun trying!The second competition was to ‘Pimp Your
Wheels’ and have the best decorated buggy!Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do this, nor did I see a single
buggy throughout the day that had been decorated (I’m sure there must have been
a few but I must have missed them), which is a shame as it was a great idea for
a competition.The third competition was
for the cutest photo taken by Rare Moments Photography on the day, or from
their visits to Matalan stores in the previous weeks.This caused a bit of confusion on the day for
quite a few people, as there was also a similar Matalan Model competition
running alongside it, but it was quite clearly stated on the website that there
were two separate competitions.

The
photography studio was set up in Fontwell house and we arrived there early as
we had expected a large queue. However,
there were two separate ‘studios’ set up and The Princess and The Pickle were
having their photos taken within minutes of walking through the door.Unfortunately we could not get The Pickle to
smile (he’s not a morning person!), despite the best efforts of the
photographer, who was very professional, fun and lively and he certainly made
The Princess laugh! The photos still
turned out very nice and we were surprised how many had been taken in such a
small amount of time.The only problem
here was that we had to wait 50 minutes in a queue to be able view our
photos.I don’t think this was the fault
of the photography company, as they had 3 computer screens set up, it was just
down to how long people took to choose their prints.

The
Princess enjoyed a ride on the Ferris Wheel and the Teacups, while The Pickle
was fascinated by the Cuddle-Me-Do mobile farm animals, especially the pony,
which we had to eventually drag him away from kicking and screaming!

The only
real issue I had with the event was how much the website emphasised the word
‘FREE’.Yes, it was free parking, free
admission and there was lots to look at, such as the mobile farm, plus some
free activities and classes.However, it
could turn out to be a very expensive day if you have a large family – face
painting, for instance, was £4 per person, the ferris wheel £2 per person,
teacup ride £1.50, £3 to have your photo taken with an owl, and I feel the
website should have stated there would be charges for quite a few of the
activities.Let’s face it, you can’t
take a child somewhere like that and then not allow them to do all the fun
things that burn a hole in your wallet!The ‘free’ Matalan goody bags were also only given out to people who
signed up for a Matalan reward card on the day.

Unfortunately
I went along expecting much more of a ‘free family day out’ than a baby trade
show, which it mainly was.Having said
that, there were lots of lovely stalls to look at, some from companies I hadn’t
heard of before yesterday, selling great Christmas gift ideas.I will probably go along next year but with
slightly more cash!All in all, it was a
well organised day, with plenty to do, but did end up costing us a fair bit
more than expected.

Further
information about the event can be found at www.southernbabyevent.net and details of Rare Moments Photography at www.raremomentsphotography.co.uk